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When two veteran politicians met downtown to discuss congestion in the GTA, one of them got stuck in traffic.

Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion, who has been around the block a few times, knew enough to leave early for her meeting with Premier Dalton McGuinty.

She also has a pretty good idea of what’s needed to reduce traffic gridlock. Political gridlock, however, keeps the conversation stuck in the slow lane.

We need another $40 billion to pave the way to our transportation future. No government has that kind of spare cash lying around — which is why politicians prefer to pass the buck to one another rather than level with voters.

Road tolls are the third rail of politics. Congestion charges cause political sclerosis. Gas taxes and other transit taxes are toxic. Taken together, they are a witches’ brew reflexively avoided by politicians in power — or opposition politicos trying to win power.

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That, at least, is the conventional wisdom. But there’s a price to be paid for being a slave to the polls on tolls.

As McCallion put it: “If you don’t want tax increases, you’re not going to get service.”

Yet even the usually plain-spoken mayor danced around road tolls, saying she opposes them for existing highways. Her solution? Gas taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, vehicle registration taxes — just about any other tax that any other level of government can pay the political price for.

Hence, more passing of the buck to someone else: Mississauga’s mayor doesn’t want road tolls that would hit her commuters in the pocketbook.

It’s the reverse for any pro-toll Toronto politicians: Typically, they target the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, so that incoming 905 commuters would take the hit (while their own downtown constituents are spared). Same with congestion charges, which would be paid by people outside their downtown wards.

When Toronto imposed a vehicle registration fee of about $60 — less than the price of a decent dinner — a tax-fighting politician named Rob Ford proclaimed a counter-attack against the so-called “war on cars” and won a mayoral mandate to ditch the tax. Lesson learned.

That’s why Tory Leader Tim Hudak responded to McCallion’s plea by ruling out taxes or tolls, as he always does. “I think throwing a new tax on them or making them pay more to drive on roads is no solution,” he offered helpfully. This from the same leader who likes to complain in his speeches about the scourge of congestion: “For me, traffic jams are personal.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is equally hostile to tolls, instantly transforming herself into a tax-fighter. “Definitely no tolls!” she huffed in the last election.

The premier, too, always takes a pass by seeking refuge in a mid-2013 deadline for Metrolinx, the provincial transportation agency, to complete its work (a report may come later this year). Instinctively reluctant to get too far out ahead of the public, McGuinty keeps hinting that he first wants voters to gain a firmer understanding of the challenges — before discussing the costs.

And he is counting on a few trusted advisers to shoulder the load while shielding him from the fallout: Metrolinx chair Rob Prichard, Transportation Minister Bob Chiarelli, and David Livingston, his new chief of staff and former head of Infrastructure Ontario, which cobbles together private-public partnerships that bankroll massive investments.

Given the fierce opposition of the Tories and NDP to road tolls or congestion charges, there won’t be any coalition of the willing during the mandate of this minority Legislature. Even after Metrolinx comes forward with revenue-raising proposals down the road, expect a long period of public discussion before anyone takes action.

Between the lines, and behind the scenes, there is a recognition that standing still on transportation policy will only keep motorists stuck in traffic. Ultimately, the money will come from a combination of every fathomable source of funding: Tolls, congestion charges, registration fees, taxes, and above all, private-public partnerships that tap business capital.

When it comes to fixing traffic jams, the roadblocks are so big and the revenue needs so massive that there are no revenue shortcuts. No matter how much politicians are inclined to pass the buck, they will have to find the money somewhere — everywhere, in fact.

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